This has had and will continue to have very profound and negative effects upon our economy:
Flawed trade and tax policies and a financial system focused on short-term profits drove good jobs offshore, led to record trade deficits, and left the economy in ruins. With the manufacturing share of the nation's gross domestic profit (GDP) withering to 12 percent (from 15.9 percent in 1995) and the financial sector growing to 22 percent, the structure of the U.S. economy looks more like Monaco than Germany. This growth model of asset bubbles, low wages, credit pyramids, toxic assets and unregulated, out-of-control global capital has been a recipe for disaster.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/10...
Now, although many know that it is long past due that this nation once again invested in it's own people and infrastructure the changing times dictate a different approach in doing so much more effectively:
There was a time this nation thought big-investing in its people, infrastructure, technology and manufacturing. We must do so again but we need to recognize that the world has changed. For example, the rest of the world leads in mass transit technology and the United States is home to only two of the 10 largest solar photo-voltaic producers, only one of the top 10 advanced battery manufacturers and only two of the top 10 wind turbine producers. If we want to be world leaders in clean technology and have transportation systems to match then we must think strategically and at scale.
Consequently, we must be smart in investing in our country's future and once again produce not only a booming, but a balanced economy that Americans up and down the class scale can contribute to and benefit from:
Over the next decade our nation is poised to invest $2 trillion in health care, infrastructure and a greener economy. The nation must take tough and strategic steps to create good jobs, fix our trade and tax laws and rebuild our productive capacity. Governments must restructure and regulate financial systems so that long-term investment is rewarded and gambling is not subsidized. We must use our financial resources to develop and deploy domestically-produced technology and, if there is better technology overseas, use our financial leverage to get those production systems located here. We must think strategically and regionally about industry development so we utilize existing pools of displaced skilled workers, engineering talent and idled plants. And, finally, we must never again lose sight of the fact that it matters where things are made.
The economic collapse of late last year should have nailed it home to Americans that the status-quo in our economy over the last several decades is unsustainable. We simply must remember that it matters where things are made and who they are made by. Re-building our manufacturing base is not only good for America by providing middle-class jobs and success for it's citizens, but it also allows more people to contribute more to the economy which will protect against the very wealthy once again crashing our economy through their own greed.
Lets hope America has reached that crossroads where our populace will once again demand that America produces goods and services for the rest of the world, and a middle-class for it's own citizenry.
|
